Naomi Campbell has won a legal challenge to overturn a five-year ban on being a charity trustee.
In 2024, the supermodel, 56, was disqualified from being a charity trustee for five years after the Charity Commission – which regulates charities in England and Wales – found serious mismanagement of funds at Fashion For Relief, which she founded.
This included using charity funds to pay for her stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, as well as spa treatments, room service and cigarettes.
Tribunal ruling
Earlier this year, Campbell brought a case to the First Tier Tribunal to overturn the ban.
In a judgment on Thursday, the three-person tribunal ruled in the supermodel’s favour, finding she had been “deceived” by fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich.
Judges Helen Neville and James Armstrong-Holmes, sitting with a third member, said: “There was serious misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity she founded, Fashion for Relief.
“The tribunal has found, however, that its most serious features, including unauthorised payments to Ms Campbell’s co-trustee, Bianka Hellmich, failures in the management of the charity’s finances and the misuse of its funds, resulted from Ms Hellmich’s conduct and were concealed from Ms Campbell.”
Background
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